Caught neighbours using my garden

[Weird21]

I have a block of flats next to my house and I thought for a while things have been moved in my garden and it seemed a bit weird. I’ve got a lock on the gate and it’s always locked. So over the weekend I’ve installed a small out door camera under my guttering which records the whole back garden.

So I’ve come home tonight after work (I work the late shift) and found two cigarette butts on the path by my seating area. So I checked the camera and the neighbors have climbed my wall and been sitting in my garden from 2pm until 8pm using my seating and table. To say I’m annoyed is an understatement but how to I confront them as they aren’t the friendliest of people at the best of times. So I guess they’ve been doing this since the nice weather began.

Unfortunately it’s not difficult to see i’m out as I have to drive to work and so once my cars not there they obviously know I’m out.

I just don’t know how to approach this as I’m a single woman and just concerned it’ll escalate but I can’t allow this what would you all do? I thought maybe a note through their door asking them to not use it anymore. They haven’t seen the camera but now I wonder how long it’s been going on.

I may be wrong but I think if you report neighbours to police then you would have to declare a dispute if you sell your house. Someone come and correct me if I'm wrong.

Want to borrow my Rottweiler?

Keep the Holly very well watered as established evergreens won't like being moved in the summer ;)

Good 🍀

This reminds me of another story on here where a family found out that their neighbours had been using their garden all summer without permission. They only realised because they locked the gate and the neighbours' kids were trapped outside in the rain! Then the neighbour parents had the gall to complain and accuse them of false imprisonment. And insist they had a right to use the garden because they had been doing it for months. Madness!

Mirror article: "Naturally, she flocked to Mumsnet"

Can one person flock?

Rosaleen Fenton to her boss "What do you want me to do today"

Boss - "Fuck all really, nick something off Mumsnet if you want"

Anticlimb paint is the best thing ever for situations like this. It gets everywhere and it never comes off. Also, stinging nettles. Strewn along the top of the wall. Grab hold of a handful of that and they'll know it!

Leave a note saying, smile WE can see you!

Let us know how it goes OP!

@ittakes2

These cat anti climb should do the trick and they would hopeful assume you are detering cats not people so won't take it personally. ]]

I wouldn't give a fig if they took it personally. What they are doing is outrageous.

@Somanysocks

Has anybody said shotgun yet?

This would be a serious consideration where I live.

If someone was on my property I would hold them there with my gun until the sheriff arrived.

But reading how you have no rights to defend private property and trespassing seems to be allowed in the UK;

I'd leave something valuable on one of the chairs - as surely it is your right in your own garden to leave valuables about - right? Then I'd film them nicking it. That should notch it up a bit for the useless police.

Really surprised that nobody’s mentioned Clint Eastwood with a shotgun on a rocking chair… Meanwhile, I think the OP has started to take steps. Let’s see how she goes next sunny day!

@EastWestWhosBest

The Mirror article says that the op ‘flocked’ to MN. Can a single person ‘flock’?

No more than a Mirror journalist can 'write'.

You don't need to wat until Friday, you have CCTV evidence. Call the police and report this and explain you believe this has happened a number of times. Say you live alone and are scared to go into garden or to confront them due to their behaviour. Police will come and view footage then go tell them to stop

I'd send the footage to the police and ask them to go to the address and ask them to stop. I'd also send the footage to the HA and explain you've had to report them to police. I'd also ask the other neighbours to jointly complain to the HA to try and get them moved on. In my experience HAs do act if multiple people keep complaining

If someone was on my property I would hold them there with my gun until the sheriff arrived.

Where are you living? Dodge city in 1860?

But reading how you have no rights to defend private property and trespassing seems to be allowed in the UK

We do have rights to defend our property. You just have to be proportionate about it. No shotguns, for example. If you aren’t in the U.K. you may not know the Tony Martin case. He shot a 16 year old dead, and injured another man, when they attempted to rob his house in 2000. He was convicted of murder, later downgraded to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility when his defence team argued that he was suffering from a severe mental illness at the time of the incident.

Trespassing isn’t “allowed”, but it is a civil rather than a criminal matter. As it is in many countries.

@EastWestWhosBest

The Mirror article says that the op ‘flocked’ to MN. Can a single person ‘flock’?

What, like wallpaper? I now have an image of the poor Op covered in fluff.

I think you just need to leave two big burly mates in the house. Once the CFers have arrived and made themselves comfy the burly mates can burst out the door demanding to know what they fuck they’re doing in the garden. Make them shit themselves. They won’t come back.

You may need an uzi or a rocket propelled grenade to get rid of those cf's.
Shamelessly 👀 for Fridays update, good luck

Definitely need a sign stating:

Private Property
Trespassers enter at their own risk.
All trespassers are liable for prosecution.

This should be displayed inside and outside on the gate.
(This disclaimer is needed as it has been known for people to sue owners if they were to hurt themselves. The Police see there is a clear message to stay off the property).

Or a sign saying ‘automatic recording and live streaming surveillance’. 👀

@Freddie28

Definitely need a sign stating:

Private Property
Trespassers enter at their own risk.
All trespassers are liable for prosecution.

This should be displayed inside and outside on the gate.
(This disclaimer is needed as it has been known for people to sue owners if they were to hurt themselves. The Police see there is a clear message to stay off the property).

Prosecutions are for criminal law, trespass is a civil matter, hence statements like "Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law" which mean nothing will happen but occasionally intimidates those who are not CFs.

@Immaculatemisconception

My neighbour has motion activated sprinklers to keep cats out of his garden. Would this also work for CFs?

Thanks for sharing this tip. Why didn't I think of that?!

OP, please update us when you've reviewed the footage of CFs discovering your newly planted holly. Hope it gives you something to laugh about.

Related, on my walk home earlier this evening i noticed three separate addresses in a neighbouring street (one whose rear gardens back onto a quiet public road, making them, I suppose, a security risk) with spikes of varying sizes on back fences. none had any kind of warning sign. of the three there's one whose legality I very much doubt.